Spongebob and Pronouns

isufoxgirl
Jan 20, 2016
2 min read

Last week, I started teaching grammar. Because I'm only starting out, the lessons for the next couple weeks are very short to make room for lessons in the content areas. On the first day I taught, my supervisor observed me and made comments about how great of a job I did, but to be aware that pronouns can be the hardest thing to learn in grammar. So what was a student teacher like me to do? Off to Pinterest!

Lucky for me, I'm an avid Pinterester (if that's the right terminology) and was able to find something that could make my lessons stick. Below, I found a pronoun song to use in the classroom for the next day. The lyrics were written to the theme of Spongebob Squarepants, so I knew my fourth graders would love singing the song.

The next day, I introduced the song and gave each student a copy. Even though I don't have a singing voice worthy of The Voice or American Idol, I sang it to the class and then let them join in. By the time I let the kids join me, I probably should have had the door shut when I did the intro because I'm 99.9% sure the entire upstairs and the main office heard twenty-five students scream, "AYE-AYE CAPTAIN!" loud and clear.

Needless to say, the kids loved the song. By the next day, one student greeted me in the morning by saying, "Miss Fox, I have the pronoun song stuck in my head." I replied, "But at least you remember the pronouns right?"

I've also helped Mrs. H. compose some fun math games to incorporate during math instruction. We've realized that the students we teach struggle to know their multiplication facts, so we wanted to make some edcucational games. The game I finished by early Thursday morning is called Zap-It! The class gathers in a circle and a student pulls a popsicle stick with their eyes closed. They read the multiplication fact out loud and then has five seconds to solve. If the student doesn't have the correct answer, the stick is put back into the pile.

Because there was a half day and an assembly, we had to pass the time before dismissal, so Mrs. H. and I introduced the game to the remainding students. The kids were hooked and loved it, though I think it appealed to the boys only because they could put the popsicle sticks between their fingers to make them look like Wolverine.